Abstract
The intention to set up social ventures remains an unpopular choice for intending entrepreneurs
due to its obvious limitations of resource constraints. Yet it remains a vital means of
making social goods available to disadvantaged people, especially in developing countries. Our
study aims to investigate how prior experience and networking ability interacts with empathy, moral
obligation, self-efficacy, and social support to induce social entrepreneurial intentions in budding
entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Using simultaneous linear regression, we analyzed data from a collection
of 315 respondents enrolled in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)—a one-year mandatory
national service scheme for graduates of higher institutions who are on the verge of making critical
career choices. Our findings show that the main effects were statistically significant, while networking
ability, more than prior experience, moderated the main effects. Conclusively, budding entrepreneurs
need to hone their networking skills in order to exploit their social networks and complement the
benefits of prior experiences as they contemplate social entrepreneurship. Future investigations can
focus on determining how other environmental factors such as government/institutional support,
technological adoption, and infrastructure would affect social entrepreneurial intentions.